10 Child Abuse Cases Hollywood Doesn't Want You to Know

Here's a list of child sexual abuse cases in Hollywood and what happened.

After Elijah Wood's comments in the Sunday Times about a secret pedophile ring in the film industry, Hollywood has been spinning about the alleged sexual predators lurking behind the scenes targeting aspiring actors. Former child actor Corey Feldman says he was molested as a young actor by several sexual predators including one industry insider who still works in Hollywood today. Feldman told the Hollywood Reporter that he can not say who sexually assaulted him under California's statute of limitations or he will be the one getting sued. "I had to go through a lot of therapy and group therapy and rehabilitation and all sorts of things to be put on this ground that I'm on now," Feldman, now 44, told reporters. As bad as Feldman's experiences were, they didn't compare to the abuse his best friend, Corey Haim, who died of pneumonia at the age of 38 after several years of battling drug addiction. "(Haim) had more direct abuse than I did. With me, there were some molestations and it did come from several hands, so to speak, but with Corey, his was direct rape," Feldman told the Hollywood Reporter. "And his also occurred when he was 11. My son is 11 now and I can't even begin to fathom the idea of something like that happening to him. It would destroy his whole being. "As I look at my son, a sweet, innocent, 11-year-old boy and then try to put him in Corey Haim's shoes, I go, 'Oh my God — well of course he was erratic and not well-behaved on sets and things like that.' " The controversy surrounding pedophilia in Hollywood became a heated topic after the 2014 Amy Berg-directed documentary, An Open Secret, which focused on the predatory parties led by Hollywood executives and targeted teenaged aspiring actors. Most recently, Elijah Wood, who worked in the film industry at a young age, said "There are a lot of vipers" in the film industry. However, he backtracked on his statements saying he didn't know anyone that was abused in the film industry. Feldman, wanted to point out that he did have first-hand observation to Hollywood's pedophilia. "And his also occurred when he was 11. My son is 11 now and I can't even begin to fathom the idea of something like that happening to him. It would destroy his whole being. As I look at my son, a sweet, innocent, 11-year-old boy and then try to put him in Corey Haim's shoes, I go, 'Oh my God — well of course he was erratic and not well-behaved on sets and things like that.' " Feldman says one of the people who molested him was an employee of his father's management company. "My father hired this man and this man coaxed me into trying every single drug that I ever tried," the Goonies actor said. "He says, 'Hey I'm going to be your best friend, I'll take you to Disneyland, I'll take you to the Comedy Store.' He was my assistant, my driver, my chaperone, and also basically my guardian." There is a long history of pedophilia in Hollywood. In a 2012 report on child sexual abuse cases, the Los Angeles times reported that a large number of cases “lesser-known assailants employed at all levels of the industry,” from acting coaches to on-set tutors, along with managers, production assistants and talent agents. Because so many people were affected and the abuse was so widespread, children were affected at “all levels” of their career.

Here's a breakdown of some of the most notorious Hollywood child sexual abuse cases in recent history.

1970s

• Diff'rent Strokes' actor Todd Bridges says he was abused by his publicist when he was eleven.
• Roman Polanski charged on five counts of sexual abuse against a 13-year-old Samantha Jane Gailey. Polanski would leave the country and never return.

1980s

• Corey Haim revealed to Corey Feldman that “an adult male convinced him that it was perfectly normal for older men and younger boys in the business to have sexual relations.”
• Bob Villard, popular headshot photographer and manager who represented Leonardo DiCaprio and other actors was charged with transportation of child pornography.

  • Villard was again accused of child pornography in 2001, after searches of his home uncovered thousands of photographs of boys in skimpy bathing suits posed in sexually suggestive positions, police said. He pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to three years of probation. Throughout this period, Villard touted his work with aspiring young actors, some of whom would later become major Hollywood stars — among them Tobey Maguire, Leonardo DiCaprio and Danny Nucci. Villard boasted on a company website that as a manager he had "guided the careers of dozens of successful film and television actors." [LA Times>

• Director Victor Salva convicted of molesting the 12-year-old boy starring in his debut feature film, Clownhouse. Victor Salva would later direct the Jeepers Creepers movies.

1990s

• Allegedly, Marc Collins-Rector and Chad Shackley hold lavish parties attended by aspiring teenage actors. Apparently, Marc Collins-Rector has vanished and no one has been able to find him.
• Actress Thandie Newton says a casting director asked her to "touch herself," for an audition and the audition tape circulates around "other industry moguls."
• Dylan Farrow says her father, Woody Allen abused her.

2000s

• Bob Villard is sentenced to three years probation after discovery of "thousands of photographs of boys in skimpy bathing suits" are found in house home. Bob Villard would get arrested again for "committing a lewd act on a child. The victim was a 13-year-old boy who sought him out as an acting coach."
• Nickelodeon production assistant, Jason Michael Handy was sentenced for two felony counts, one of lewd acts on a child and one for distributing sexually explicit material by email.

It's shocking to believe that until 2012, there was no law that prevented convicted child molesters from working with children in the entertainment industry as casting directors, managers, photographers, publicists or acting coaches. What do you think? Share with us your thoughts in the comments below.